Estes Park Opinion

School district continues to find ways to succeed

Like swallows returning to Capistrano, students - nearly 1,100 of them - returned to school this week, laughing and joking with each other while trying to figure out where their classrooms were.

As we turn the page on the tenure of retired superintendent Patrick Hickey and welcome incoming superintendent Sheldon Rosenkrance, there seems to be an air of excitement and hope around the Estes Park School District.

And, with good reason.

The Estes Park School District, despite over a decade of inadequate funding from the state, continues to finds ways to succeed in these challenging financial times.

Neither fires or floods - or funding shortfalls - seem to have much of an impact on our students. That is reflected in the recent ACT and TCAP scores. Those results indicate that our students are doing quite well.

The ACT results of the class of 2015 finds that these students are testing higher than the state average. It appears their chances of going to college will be high.

As for the latest TCAP scores, many of our students are testing above the state average.

According to results released this week, five of the district's eight grade levels scored at or higher than the state average in TCAP reading.

In addition, four of the district's grade levels scored at or higher than the state average in TCAP writing.

Even in math, one of the most difficult disciplines for students, three of the district's grade levels scored higher than the state average.

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While there's always some room for improvement, the results show again that the district, its teachers, and staff are committed to providing the best education possible.

And, while we're at it, we should have parents take a bow, too. It's no secret that a good education begins at home and continues in our schools.

We all should take pride that we have such a wonderful, education-supportive community and a school district with such dedicated teachers.